Some of the causes include heavy drinking and binge drinking, as well as alcohol poisoning, violence related to drinking, car accidents, and longer- term health problems like liver disease or heart disease.

"It's shocking to see the public health impact of excessive drinking on working-age adults," said Robert Brewer, head of CDC's Alcohol Program and one of the report's authors.

Excessive alcohol use led to approximately 88,000 deaths per year for Americans ages 20-64 from 2006 to 2010.

The study says those lives were cut short on average by about 30 years.

"We need to redouble our efforts to implement scientifically proven public health approaches to reduce this tragic loss of life and the huge economic costs that result," said Ursula E. Bauer, director of CDC's National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.